The blog contains articles by the author which appear in various newspapers in Kashmir and are also available on the website: www.kashmirfirst.com

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

The New “Iron Curtain”!

(The Digital India has failed to control the
Social Life in Kashmir in spite of the strongest curbs ever put on all the social
networking sites sand TV channels!)

In the erstwhile Soviet
Union there was such a blackout of communications with the outside world that
the measure got the name of the “Iron Curtain”. It was virtually an Iron
Curtain which the communist regime had put on all communications with the free
world. No news filtered out nor were the outsiders able to communicate with the
Soviet Citizens. In fact, the “Curtain” extended all over the Communist
countries of Europe. The real definition was, “a notional barrier separating the former Soviet bloc and the
West prior to the decline of communism that followed the political events in
Eastern Europe in 1989”. According to Wikipedia, “The use of the termiron curtain as a metaphor for strict separation goes back
at least as far as the early 19th century. It originally referred to fireproof
curtains in theatres.Although its popularity as a Cold War symbol
is attributed to its use in a speechWinston Churchillgave in
March 1946 inFulton,Missouri, Nazi Minister of PropagandaJoseph Goebbelshad already used the term in reference to the Soviet
Union”.

In the present world
after the advent of the Internet, popularly called the information highway, it
is practically impossible to shut out any area from the world at large. There
are umpteen ways of communicating with the rest of the world. If internet is
blocked through landline or mobile, there are many options of satellite
internet. Small digital devices costing $ 60 to $ 200 or so can be used to
connect to internet through satellites all over the world. People use these
devices in the deserts, ocean and mountains. As regards blocking of Social
Media sites, there are dozens of Virtual Private Networks (VPN) available, some
absolutely free, to sign into these sites without the local Internet Service
Providers knowing anything about it. The days of the erstwhile “Iron Curtain”
are gone!

The State Government
vide Home Ministry order banned 22 Social Media sites accessible through the
internet. Earlier, the internet itself had been blocked a number of times since
the installation of the present coalition government. Mobile phone networks too
have been blocked several times. Last year these were blocked for almost five
months. The state government has also banned some television channels. The
reasoning behind these extra-ordinary totalitarian measures is supposedly the
use of these by militants for spreading violent activities and so on. Well, the
unrest has been there even when there was no internet and even when there were
no social media sites. Again it is a short term fire-fighting effort instead of
determining and treating the cause of the fire. There are always upheavals off
and on. This is because the basic cause of the perennial unrest is not attended
to at all! All sane and matured people from the civil society as well as from
the Army have opined that the unrest in Kashmir needs a political solution and
not a military one.

Unfortunately, the top
leadership of the present dispensation in New Delhi refuses to listen to the
saner advice and are adamant that talks can only be held once violence is given
up. However, they refuse to see the truth that the cause of violence is the
total denial of the basic rights including total suppression for any free
expression. The words “Freedom of Expression” seem to have been wiped out from
their constitutional dictionary! In a free society claiming to be the largest
democracy in the world one would expect respect for all views even if contrary
to the general belief. Once there is total suppression of freedom of expression
especially when every peaceful expression is put down with undue violence,
counter-violence is but natural.

In spite of all these
totalitarian measures, which remind one of George Orwell’s’ 1984, the truth has
the habit of coming out all over the world. In fact, this blockade reminiscent
of the Iron Curtain days has proved counterproductive. Videos of suppression,
demonstrations and so on are still going viral on the Facebook and twitter. The
only gain has been universal condemnation of the Central and the State
Government for this total communications and social media blockade. Even the
United Nations Commission for Human Rights has held a meeting to discuss these
violations of Human Rights in Kashmir.

Incidentally, all these
gags have not lessened the protests or other unrest all over the valley. Every
day there is news about protests and clashes in different towns. People need to
understand that the fastest means of news communication in Kashmir has always
been the word of mouth. Interestingly, the most important news source is a
baker’s shop in the morning in every part of Kashmir. All over the valley, the
people in large numbers very early in the morning gather and wait for their
turn to take the bread at the bakers’ shops. These places are the best
locations to gather news and the discussions sometimes are very lively and
informative. To put a complete blockade on dissemination of news from all parts
of the valley, the government may next have to close all the baker shops!

On the positive side,
the government has inadvertently done a great favour to the social life in
Kashmir. After the violent events of the decade of nineties of the last
century, almost all the physical interaction had come to a virtual end. People
would not dare to go out to meet friends or relatives due to continuous crack
downs, cordon and search operations and continuous curfews. The only meeting
places were either funerals or marriage functions! There was a revival at the
beginning of the new century and the people had started moving around. This
physical interaction got another jolt by the interactive social media. People
became couch potatoes sitting in front of their laptops or holding their smart
phones and doing all the interactions at their own homes. The blockade of the
social media is making people mobile once again. We may, hopefully, see much
more physical interaction in future which is the most important requirement to
keep a movement alive!